the Poems of
Harry James Scott
1915 to 1990
GENTLY
Please break it to me gently
I want to be the last to know
Although your kisses tell me
I still hope it isn't so.
We've had our times of pleasure
And I hate to see them go
So if I have to face it
Let me be the last to know.
Please take pity and remember
All the love that used to be
Please take pity and remeber
All those pledges made to me.
But if it's truly over
And it's time for me to go
Please break it to me gently
Let me be the last to know.
SILVER DOLLAR
I've got a silver dollar,
And I'll spend it all on you
I'm going to make a phone call,
And see what it will do.
I've saved this silver dollar,
In a pocket near my heart,
With the picture we had taken,
Just before we had to part.
I'm going to blow this dollar,
And make that call and see,
If a hundred little pennies,
Can bring you back to me.
TIME
Did you say a prayer this morning
To say thanks for this new day?
Did you say a prayer this morning
To ask guidance on your way?
Why not take time to realize
That one day we'll have to stand
In our final court of judgment
With the verdict in his hand.
So don't wait until to-morrow,
To be thankful for to-day,
And the chance to live on god's side
If you'll only stop to pray.
OTHER TIMES
I have your old love letters
Kept under lock and key
They are all that I have left
Of the times that used to be.
I keep them where no other
With prying eye can see
The secrets that are ours alone
Of times that used to be.
But often as I read them
The strange thought comes to me
That maybe you are thinking too
Of the times that used to be.
And then I wish we had them back
Those times that used to be
Instead of just these letters
That live the past for me.
MINNIE
I've got a girl named MInnie
And boy can Minnie flirt
Especially when she's wearing
Her little mini-skirt
Oh Minnie and her mini-skirt
Are the talk of all the town
The boys are never looking up
They're always looking down.
But when I marry Minnie
And she has only me to please
I'm going to see that Minnie
Wears her dresses to her knees.
But for now until the wedding
I'll just have to go on knowing
That no matter where my Minnie is
Most of Minnie will be showing.
TRAVELLIN' MAN
I've always been a travellin' man,
And I guess I always will,
For though I've tried to settle down,
I find I can't stand still.
I've known girls in every town,
They all call me fancy Dan;
For I stay a while,
and love awhile,
Then become a travellin' man.
Yes I'm just a restless travellin' man,
A thousand notches on my gun,
But they're not for men I've bested,
But for girls that I have won.
So I keep my horse and saddle,
As close as they can be;
For when I'm not chasing some sweet gal,
Some sweet gal's chasing me.
And all the time they're knowing
I'm a footloose travellin' man;
So I don't know why,
but still they try,
To catch old travellin'man.
ONE MORE TIME
Let's not do something foolish -
A mistake would be a crime;
Let's not say our love is over,
Till we've tried it one more time.
Let's give ourselves another chance
To be positively sure;
That the love we knew is ended,
And that we can't find a cure.
Please give our love another go,
And try it one more time;
Please give our fate a chance to know,
By trying one more time.
We may have learned our lesson,
And our hearts be more in rhyme;
So let's not say our love is over,
Till we've tried it one more time.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
I didn't sleep a wink last night,
Just like the week that went before;
Since the night you let me know
We'd not be dating any more.
I guess a lot of sleepless nights
Are what I'll find ahead of me,
For even when I close my eyes,
The face I loved is all I see.
I wish that you had told me
I'd no longer hold your charms,
Instead of me just finding you
In someone elses arms.
Tell me what you found with him,
That yuou couldn't find with me,
Or is it that the love we had
Was really never meant to be.
WHICH
(trucker poem)
I'm rough,
I'm tough,
I'm rugged;
That's the way you have to be
To wheel a highway freight car,
On it's runs from sea to sea.
My arm is strong,
my fist is hard,
My eye is like a hawk;
And often I get pretty rough
In the way I've learned to talk.
But when I'm wheeling back to you,
I get tender as can be,
For I know that you'll be waiting
At the cottage door for me.
And then the kind of changes
That take place inside of me,
When at last I'm back again
With you sitting on my knee.
It's then I have to wonder -
Which man is really real,
The lover who is home with you
Or the tough behind the wheel?
SWAN SONG
I up and bought an old guitar
At an auction sale to-day,
And when I took it home with me
I thought I'd try to play.
First I wiped the dust off,
Then I tightened every string,
But when I tried to strum it
It would only play one thing.
It didn't seem to matter
Which song I tried to play,
The music that came from it,
Only came in this one way.
Oh I'm just an old beat up guitar,
And no one loves me now;
I,m like a nag that lost the race,
Now has to pull the plough.
I'm like a pice of spearmint
After the taste is gone;
And all that I've got left now,
Is to play my old swan song.
So now the only song we know,
As strange as it may be,
Is one I'd never heard before,
That an old guitar taught me.
PERFECT
They say No body's perfect,
And I know they think that's true;
But who it was that said so,
Could not have known you.
For you're a perfect thirty-six,
And a perfect twenty-two,
You'r another perfect thirty-six,
And the rest is perfect too.
Now all these ways you measure up
We know to be devine,
But the nicest thing about it all,
Is knowing you are mine.
Oh they say nobody's perfect,
And I'll say that I agree;
For I never want another
knowing Just how ;
perfect you can be.
ALL THE WORLD
I'm just an ordinary Joe
Who works from eight to five,
To earn those honest dollars
So that I can stay alive.
I'll never travel round the world,
Strange lands I'll never see,
But that is not important,
'Cause you're the world to me.
I know that when I've worked all day,
There'll still be you at knight;
And you just being who you are,
Makes all the world seem bright.
So what I'll miss in travel
Will never bother me,
For I'll stay home and hold the world,
Right here upon my knee.
WINDS OF CHANGE
Oh the winds of change are blowing,
And there whispering in my ear;
Oh the winds of change are blowing,
And there voice is all I hear.
Yes, the winds of change are blowing
And there story I know well,
'Cause ever since my boy-hood,
They have held me in there spell.
Once again I'll have to listen
As they talk both night and noon,
And tell me to be moving on,
And I know I'll do that soon.
I don't know where they come from,
And I don't know where they go,
I only know they talk to me,
With a voice that's soft and low.
GYPSY GIRL
I had my future looked at
By a gypsy girl last night,
And from the deck of cards she used,
She recognized my plight..
She saw in them two beauties-
One dark the other fair;
She said "I see you can't decide
Which one your ring will wear".
She said "it won't be easy,
'Cause you love them both the same;
But choose you must,
for only one Can ever bear your name"
Now I wish that I had never gone
That gypsy girl to see,
For now my choice is not of two,
But my gypsy girl makes three.
LASSOO
I roped you at the rodeo,
The year you won the prize,
Tor being top trick rider
On a horse ten times your size.
I won the roping championship
They called me "sure hand Pat";
They crowned you "riding princess",
In your cowboy shirt and hat.
I dropped a noose around you,
Then followed with my arms;
And ever since that happy day,
Have tied up all your charms.
Now I've packed away my shiny spurs
Along with my old lassoo;
And given up the cowboy trails,
To stay at home with you.
WHITE OAK CANYON
We walked beneath the stars
of White oak Canyon
At the dude ranch where I worked as leading hand;
And the love we knew
at White Oak Canyon
Was like something that our destiny had planned.
It seemed each time
that you came back
For that one month of the year
Was like something out of Heaven,
And each time became more dear.
The spring, the fall, the winter
I was able to sustain,
Only by the thoughts of summer,
And that you'd be back again.
Each time
your perfumed letters came
I knew that they would say
That you like me were lonely too,
And waited only for the day,
That you'd be back
at White Oak Canyon;
And in my arms beneath the sky
That seemed to say
that the only world
Is the world of you and I.
But now ;
that sky has blackened,
And the stars will never shine
Like they did at White Oak Canyon,
On the nights that you were mine.
Because the phone call
that I got last night,
As I waited for to-day,
Said ;
that you would never get here,
Though you had been on your way.
The sports job that you drove alone,
And the car with the drunken five,
Had crashed head on at Eagle Ridge
And none had stayed alive.
But the last wish you had wispered
Was to still be my companion,
to be buried where we loved
In lonely White Oak Canyon.
TENNESSEE MEMORIES
I'm dreaming to-night of my boyhood,
Back in the hills of Tennessee,
As I think of you and me.
I didn't know when I left home-
That shack in Tennessee;
I didn't know when I left home,
How cruel the world could be.
I thought that all I had to do,
Was to be some other place,
And "Lady Luck" would look at me
With a smile upon her face.
But now that all these years have passed,
I know this isn;t true;
So all I want in this wide world
Is to come back home to you.
When I do,
will you be waiting ?
Near the place we used to go;
When I do
will you remember
Or is it better not to know ?
But as I dream,
I know the years
Have changed the things that used to be;
But just the same I'm hoping
There's still time for you and me.
So I'm going back to gaze again
On the old familiar scene,
And hope that somehow you'll be there,
To help forget the years between.
GREY WALLS
These prison walls surround me,
They are solid grey and high,
And often as I look at them
I wish that I could die.
Sometimes it seems they're laughing,
Sometimes they seem to stare,
But always they are saying
"You're not going anywhere".
The days are long and lonely,
And each night can be a year;
And all you have to think about
Is why you ended here.
To this I have no answer,
Except the jealous flame
That consumed me with it's fire,
When I learned your lover's name.
You had no need to wander,
You had no cause to roam,
You had a husband and a family,
And I thought a happy home.
But all of this was not enough,
So you went in search of more;
And when you found what you were seeking,
You left me at our door.
I didn't mean to harm you,
But I've done it just the same;
Still it wasn't right to shoot him,
Just because he played your game.
But I did it all,
as you recall,
And now we live alone:
You with the ugly outside world,
Me with these walls of stone.
SEARCHING
I've strummed this old guitar of mine
From Maine to Timbucktoo;
The music buys the hamburgs,
But my search is all for you.
I learned to play in prison,
In the years I called it home;
And you know as well as I do,
Why I spent that time alone.
I had no need for music.
I thought I had it made.
I had the world right in my hand,
"Cause banker was my trade.
Then you came by,
a walking dream.
U ckise nt etes abd see you still;
(lost in transcription)
We lived the life fantastic,
Then I had to pay the bill.
This was my final downfall,
And I've only myself to thank,
'Cause I tried to make it easy,
And charged it to the bank.
So now I find that all I have
Is memory and an old guitar,
But I'll walk on down the lonely road,
'Till I find out where you are.
TEARS
The tears in my eyes block my vision,
And distort the things that I view,
The world that I see is all changed,
now That my eyes no longer see you.
I was just an ordinary girl,
And no beauty queen it's true,
But I radiated sunshine
At the time of meeting you.
You said you liked my winning smile,
My eyes of azure blue,
The way I wore my hair long,
And I thought it all was true.
But like so many other girls
Who listen to a man,
I got taken by a promise,
As any loney maiden can.
He took me by my heart strings,
With his manly charm and dash;
And before he left me all alone,
He took me for my cash.
Now I sit and look through teary eyes,
And live daily with the pain
Of knowing that I'd take him back,
If he'd only come again.
But I know that this won't happen,
And that I'll always wait in vain,
'Cause I know he's with some other girl
, And will do the same again.
THE LUNCHPAIL LAMENT
I've worn my grief in silent pain,
As time and time
and time again
I've heard my friends
and neighbours wail
This town is strictly old Lunchpail.
Now being plain is a burden, true-
But I think it is time I explained to you
That being strong and sturdy too,
Is also needed to pull you through.
So now I state what I know best.
Cause in a million ways
I've met the test,
Of serving man and keeping fed-
The rugged brawn that earned the bread.
To move the turning wheel along,
That made this city broad and strong,
And fed the roots of progress well,
That built a story proud to tell.
I may be a little box to you,
But as a symbol I'm tried and true.
I've served this city long and well,
And have earned the right of truth to tell.
Why not instead of pure distain,
Accept the fact and let me reign,
As token of a task half done,
With yet more trophies to be won.
Why not stand up and give me praise,
And admit I've helped in many ways,
To make the future bright and clear,
For this city great that we hold so dear.
So lift me high and shout with pride,
That, like me, the city has inside,
What is needed to work and grow and be
A place of boundless energy.
There's little more on which to dwell;
But think the matter through full well,
Then tell me what you would rather be
Than a symbol of integrity.
GIVING
If we could all the lessons learn
That so many lovers know
That if your loves a true one
There's a way to make it grow.
The lesson is so simple
And those who know it find
That the more of love you give away
The more remains behind.
This fact is so mysterious
Like no other that I know
The more of love a heart gives away
The more there's left to grow.
Why not make loving others
A daily practice in your life
And try to ease some of the pain
For those with care and strife.
Just take a little of the love
That rests within us all
And show it to the outside world
Then watch yourself grow tall.
Try giving just a little love
To every soul you know
And find the more you give away
The more there's left to grow.
FRIENDS
The lucky people in this life
Are those whose friends are true
And it's only with adversity
That friends come shining through.
I have a friend who's very dear
Of the type where of I speak
And a more sincere and loving kind
No man could ever seek.
So with this thought I dedicate
These songs or poems as you may find
To the dearest of "Old Ladies"
Of the type that grace mankind.
So now to you dear "Grandma"
Please take these efforts few
And as I write another
I'll send it on to you.
I hope you finish with an album
But to start please take these few
And know my inspiration
Comes principally from you.
1 Gently
2 Silver Dollars
3 Time
4 Other Times
5 Minnie
6 Traveling Man
7 One More Time
8 Sleepless Nights
9 Which
10 Swan Song
11 Perfect
12 All the world
13 Winds of Change
14 Gypsy Girl
15 Lasso
16 White Oak Canyon
17 Tennessee Memories
18 Grey Walls
19 Searching
20 Tears
21 Lunch Pail Lament
22 Giving
23 Friends